


In a Painted Past

by stillskies



Category: Bleach
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-04
Updated: 2009-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-17 11:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/176279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillskies/pseuds/stillskies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Risa disappears, Kyouraku falls apart. Nanao picks up the pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a Painted Past

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://aoyagi.livejournal.com/profile)[**aoyagi**](http://aoyagi.livejournal.com/) for the weekly challenge at Paradox Fantasy.  [prompts: alcohol, bingeing, 'Damn. Foiled again.']
> 
>  _Originally posted to Paradox Fantasy on 01/04/2009_

It has been three months since she disappeared [and Kisuke, and Shinji, and so many others], but he doesn’t notice [or rather, he _refuses_ to notice, refuses to believe that she is gone because she is the glue that holds the division together and without her it will crumble like a card house faced with the lightest breeze]. The office – usually tidy under her strict regime – is a mess; discarded bottles litter the floor. There are puddles of spilled alcohol around the room, and the acrid scent hangs in the air, stale and cloying.

The days are a blur, and he spends them bingeing – downing sake and whiskey like it is going out of style – and sleeping, only to awaken the next night to start again.

The division is falling apart around him, and there are whispers that he will soon be replaced, that he has never had what it takes to run the division alone. He almost thinks they’re right.

He can hear her voice in his head, yelling at him to get his act together.

 _ **You** are the captain,_ she always said. _Not me._

“You were wrong, Risa-chan,” he slurs quietly, staring into his empty cup. He stands, swaying on his feet, and has to grasp onto the desk to keep his balance. There is an unopened bottle of scotch on the bookcase, and he slowly begins to make his way toward it.

“I think you’ve had enough, Kyouraku-taichou,” a voice says, and he tries to focus his blurry vision on the person standing between him and oblivion.

“Risa-chan?” he asks, confused. His eyesight is swimming, but he can make out the black hair and the glasses and the disapproving expression, and that’s really all he needs to convince himself that it is indeed Risa. “Damn,” he laughs, pitching forward. “Foiled again.”

Risa catches him, but falls under his weight. He is laying on top of her when he notices that her frame is much smaller, and that, rather than flinging him off of her and threatening to take away all of his porn, she is lying stock still, breathing as shallowly as possible.

He moves off of her quickly and sits with his back propped against the desk. “Nanao-chan.”

Nanao doesn’t say anything [not that she ever says much to begin with, not unless she’s talking to Risa about a book].

Shunsui laughs. Nanao stands.

“I’m taking away your alcohol,” Nanao says, and her voice wavers but is firm.

“You can’t carry it yourself,” he points out.

“Then I’ll have everyone help me.”

He can make the argument that no one seems to care – that she’s the first visitor he’s had since Juushirou, who comes every other day like clockwork to make sure that he has eaten something – but decides that there is no point in arguing.

Instead, he allows her to take the alcohol from the room. He is somewhat shocked that she knows _where_ to look for his hidden stash, but then realizes that she was Risa’s favorite, and probably knows all of the places to check.

He is sitting at his desk, looking out the window, when she returns. She pulls up a chair, climbs into it, and begins sorting paperwork into neat piles. Once the piles – months and months and months worth of reports and requests and assignments – are sorted, she hands him two stacks.

“Those require the captain’s authorization,” she says firmly. “Please read them carefully.” And then she sets to work on the remaining five stacks.

+++

It takes them three days to complete the paperwork, and Shunsui is feeling a bit worse for wear – his head aches and there isn’t even the benefit of alcohol to calm it since Nanao glares at him from under her glasses whenever he makes mention of anything that is not water – but there is a captain’s meeting to attend and a squad to run [although Nanao seems to be doing just fine without him and has stepped into Risa’s shoes effortlessly].

He is walking towards the main building when he catches a glint in the distance. The sun is at its peak, and Shunsui thinks he can make out a shadow in the distance.


End file.
